Opa-locka cop was caught on video entering a home without a warrant. Now he’s suspended.
A veteran Opa-locka police officer who entered an apartment without a warrant or permission during a search for a suspected gunman was suspended with pay pending the outcome of an investigation, city leaders said Wednesday during a press conference outside of City Hall.
Roberto Demoya, a 15-year veteran, was videotaped on a cellphone last week inside a second-floor apartment wearing a ski mask, a police vest and with his hand on his holstered weapon, even as the resident — who was with his 8-month-old son — repeatedly questioned his presence and demanded he leave.
Police were at the apartment complex at 13875 NW 22nd Ave., on Nov. 7 after someone called Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers to report a man wearing a white t-shirt and holding a gun was demanding money from residents. On Wednesday, Opa-locka Police Chief James Dobson said the officer entered the apartment without a warrant and without receiving permission from the resident and slapped the cellphone out of his hand.
“That’s very concerning,” said Dobson, who refused to go into detail about the incident, citing an internal affairs investigation.
Dobson and city leaders refused to identify the officer seen in the video. The chief said he’d been involved in several undercover operations in the past. The Miami Herald named him after confirming his identity with several law enforcement sources.
Police Benevolent Association union president Steadman Stahl said Demoya likely had good reason to enter the apartment.
“They see the subject with others on the second floor,” said Stahl. “They thought he went into that apartment. We don’t know if he [the suspect] was in the back bedroom.”
In the 22-second video posted to the Facebook page of a man named Jeffrey Zoebel Byron, someone says, “Ain’t nobody told you to come here.” Then the videographer says the officer entered the apartment without permission. At the end of the video the officer slaps the cellphone from the man taking the video, then leaves the apartment.
Demoya is the only officer who appears to enter the apartment. Other officers stand outside on the balcony. A second 54-second video posted to the same page shows several officers then entering an apartment next door.
Wednesday’s press conference was a rare one for the city, which has been enmeshed in financial and political turmoil for years. They are issues that have hamstrung the city’s police department, which is short-staffed, underpaid and which had to move out of its old building a year ago because of a damaged and moldy roof.
Four years ago federal investigators raided City Hall and city leaders were caught shaking down business owners and jailed. A commissioner had committed suicide. The city with the highest tax rate in Florida was millions of dollars in debt and near bankruptcy. To this day, a state-installed financial oversight board still controls all the city’s purse strings.
Under that cloud, the city’s newly appointed City Manager John Pate began Wednesday’s press conference, which took place in a parking lot across the street from the City Hall, saying his goal was to be as transparent as possible.
Officers are going through a thoughtful rebuilding,” Pate said. “I don’t want this incident to distract. They have a thankless job with very little resources.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 3:11 PM.
